The rest of what we have written about New Jersey. Every figure is quoted from New Jersey’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Changing your name back in New Jersey
Whether you can get your former name back in the divorce itself — and what it costs in New Jersey if you miss that moment.
See a different stateNew Jersey
Social Security, the passport, and the order to do them in are identical in all fifty states and are on the main name-change page. This page is the part that is New Jersey-specific.
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce — New Jersey restores a former name through the divorce itself, under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:34-21.
- If the decree is already final — The statute expressly says 'upon OR AFTER granting a divorce', so New Jersey does not require the request to have been made before the judgment.
- The separate name-change petition — This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- What catches people out in New Jersey — NEW JERSEY REQUIRES no NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION FOR ANY NAME CHANGE, for anyone, since November 17, 2020.
- Every state
In this subject 6
Restoring your name in the divorce
The short version5 points · tap one to jump to it
- Restoring your name in the divorce — New Jersey restores a former name through the divorce itself, under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:34-21.
- If the decree is already final — The statute expressly says 'upon OR AFTER granting a divorce', so New Jersey does not require the request to have been made before the judgment.
- The separate name-change petition — This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- What catches people out in New Jersey — NEW JERSEY REQUIRES no NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION FOR ANY NAME CHANGE, for anyone, since November 17, 2020.
- Every state
In this subject 6
New Jersey restores a former name through the divorce itself, under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:34-21.
“The court, upon or after granting a divorce from the bonds of matrimony to either spouse or dissolution of a civil union to either partner in a civil union couple, may allow either spouse or partner in a civil union couple to resume any name used by the spouse or partner in a civil union couple before the marriage or civil union, or to assume any surname.” (full text of the section)
How much choice the judge has: discretionary – the court ‘may allow’
Who may ask: either party
New Jersey does not require this to be settled before the decree is final.
If the decree is already final
The statute expressly says ‘upon OR AFTER granting a divorce’, so New Jersey does not require the request to have been made before the judgment. The New Jersey Courts self-help page confirms the mechanics: ‘To resume your maiden name as a result of a divorce, you can file a motion in family court as part of a pending or post-judgment divorce case. If your judgment of divorce stipulates that you can resume your maiden name, you do not need to file any other motion.’ Note § 2A:34-21 also allows assuming ANY surname, not just a pre-marriage one.
Authority: N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:34-21
The separate name-change petition
This is the route if the divorce route is closed to you, or if you want a name that is not a former one.
- Statute: N.J. Stat. Ann. §§ 2A:52-1 to 2A:52-4; N.J. Ct. R. 4:72
- Court: Superior Court, Law Division (civil) – Chancery Division, Family Part if a minor child’s name is also being changed
- Residency: N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:52-1 provides only that ‘Any person may institute an action in Superior Court, for authority to assume another name.’ No durational residency is stated in the statute; R. 4:72-3 refers to the county of the plaintiff’s residence for venue purposes.
- Publication: NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION WAS ABOLISHED. By order of November 17, 2020, effective immediately, the Supreme Court amended R. 4:72-3 and R. 4:72-4 to delete both publication requirements: the pre-hearing notice (‘Notice of application shall then be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of plaintiff’s residence once, at least two weeks preceding the date of the hearing’) and the post-judgment publication (‘Within 20 days after entry of judgment, a copy thereof … shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of plaintiff’s residence’). The Court adopted the change to improve access for economically disadvantaged people, self-represented litigants, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. What remains under R. 4:72-3 is service of the notice of application by certified and regular mail, at least 20 days before the hearing, on the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice (plus service on a non-party parent in a minor’s case).
- Background check: No fingerprints. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:52-1 requires the complaint to be accompanied by a sworn affidavit stating the applicant’s name, date of birth, social security number, ‘whether or not the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime, and whether any criminal charges are pending against him and, if such convictions or pending charges exist, shall provide such details in connection therewith sufficient to readily identify the matter referred to.’ The affidavit must also recite that the action ‘is not being instituted for purposes of avoiding or obstructing criminal prosecution or for avoiding creditors or perpetrating a criminal or civil fraud.’ Knowingly giving false information is a crime of the fourth degree. If criminal charges are pending, the applicant must serve the complaint and affidavit on the responsible prosecuting authority. Under § 2A:52-2 the clerk forwards a copy of the judgment to the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police if the person has a conviction or pending charges. Under R. 4:72-4 a certified copy of the judgment must be filed with the appropriate office in the Department of Treasury within 45 days.
- Hearing: required
Official forms
What catches people out in New Jersey
NEW JERSEY REQUIRES no NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION FOR ANY NAME CHANGE, for anyone, since November 17, 2020. A very large amount of online guidance still describes New Jersey’s two-notice publication scheme (once before the hearing and once after judgment); that is obsolete. Because publication was eliminated for everyone, there is no separate domestic-violence exemption and none is needed – which is the practical outcome DV advocates wanted, achieved by abolishing the requirement rather than carving out survivors.
We looked specifically for a survivor-specific sealing or confidentiality provision in N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1 to 2A:52-4 and in the November 2020 rule amendment notice and found none. We could not confirm whether R. 4:72-1 or 4:72-2 (not reproduced in that notice) contains a sealing mechanism, because njcourts.gov’s rules pages block automated access.
We could not verify the Superior Court filing fee for a name-change complaint on an official New Jersey source, because we could not reach njcourts.gov’s fee pages, so no fee is given.
The statute text above was read on the New Jersey Legislature’s own statutes database (lis.njleg.state.nj.us). The node-number URLs WERE the Legislature’s permalinks for §§ 2A:34-21 and 2A:52-1. We have replaced them with the portal itself, because those node numbers are reassigned whenever New Jersey republishes its statutes and the old ones stop working; the section headings appear on those pages as ‘Surname’ and ‘Action for change of name’ respectively.
N.J.S.A. 2A:34-21 is the divorce provision; look it up by section number on the Legislature’s portal.
Sources for this page
- Restoration in the divorce: N.J.S.A. 2A:52-1, on the New Jersey Legislature’s statutes portal
- Restoring it after the decree: https://www.njcourts.gov/self-help/name-change
Sources we could not reach when this page was built, listed so you know what was not checked rather than assuming it was: https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/rules-of-court?amp%3Bid=4%3A72&%3Btitle=actions-change-name&c=21; https://www.njcourts.gov/self-help/forms/eform/name-change
Why the New Jersey links go to the portal rather than the section. New Jersey’s statutes database addresses sections by node number, and those numbers are reassigned every time the corpus is republished — so a direct link works until it silently does not. We link the portal and name the section instead. Search the section number from there.
Found an error? Tell us — it goes on the corrections page with the date and how long it was live.